Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Rare Books
McNeil's travels in 1849, to, through and from the gold regions, in California
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Rare Books
Image not available
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Image not available
Rare Books
437859
Image not available
Manuscripts
Diary details travels by train and driving excursions (by horse-drawn vehicles) around California from February to April 1898. The diarist first journeys along the Pacific coast to Santa Barbara, where he describes the weather and climate, the town, and a visit to a local mission. He takes excursions from Santa Barbara to nearby Montecito, Carpinteria, Ventura, Goleta, and Naples, observing the homes of wealthy Easterners, large grapevines, the oil industry, cattle ranches, and the drought. He then travels to Fresno, where he writes about the city, malaria, heat and drought, water supply, the fruit industry, and a visit to the city's Chinatown. From Fresno, the diarist travels to the Monterey Peninsula via Tracy, Livermore, and San Jose. He describes the weather, land prices, and the towns of Pacific Grove and Monterey, and visits a giant live oak tree. The traveler then moves on to Southern California, stopping in Pasadena and Santa Monica before spending several days in San Diego, where he stays at the Coronado Hotel and writes of the weather, and the houses, streets, and landscape of the city, which he dislikes; he also visits La Jolla and the "Ramona House" adobe (possibly the Casa de Estudillo in San Diego). After a brief side trip to Tijuana, the diarist travels to San Bernadino County and the towns of San Bernadino, Riverside, and Pomona, with an added excursion into the mountains. Entries discuss the area's landscape, citrus groves, and the challenges of the orange industry. He ends his California journey in Los Angeles, leaving on April 8 and arriving in New York 10 days later. Final entries discuss the weather and scenery enroute and include some detailed description of the Colorado Springs area. The Southern Pacific Railroad is mentioned several times in the journal. The diary is in pencil, written in a bound "Memoranda" notebook. Also present is a second, unbound journal by the same author detailing an October 1898 hunting trip, most likely to Maine, which primarily contains descriptions of the weather (17 pages). In addition, there are three unused postcards depicting Los Angeles area real estate subdivisions, the Pacific Grove bathing beach, and the Riverside Salt Lake Railroad viaduct.
mssHM 84034